Editor's Summary
7 April 2005
TB or not TB
Only about one in ten individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis actually develop clinical tuberculosis. Stress, malnutrition, concomitant infections and age all influence susceptibility, but so does genetic host resistance. A gene mediating innate immunity to tuberculosis has now been identified in mice. Expression of the Intracellular pathogen resistance 1 (Ipr1) gene in macrophages limits the multiplication not only of M. tuberculosis but also of Listeria monocytogenes. The closest homologue to Ipr1 protein in humans is the nuclear body protein SP110, so the SP110 gene is a candidate to be tested for a role in tuberculosis susceptibility.
News and Views: Tuberculosis: The genetics of vulnerability
Susceptibility to tuberculosis is known to be under complex genetic control in humans, but what are the genes involved? A mouse strain that is unusually prone to the disease shows the way.
Nada Jabado and Philippe Gros
doi:10.1038/434709a
Letter: Ipr1 gene mediates innate immunity to tuberculosis
Hui Pan, Bo-Shiun Yan, Mauricio Rojas, Yuriy V. Shebzukhov, Hongwei Zhou, Lester Kobzik, Darren E. Higgins, Mark J. Daly, Barry R. Bloom and Igor Kramnik
doi:10.1038/nature03419
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